Tchaikovsky

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Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Peter Ilyick Tchaikovsky was born on May 7th, 1840 in Votkinsk, Russia. He was born second in a family of five sons. Tchaikovsky seemed to have a natural talent for music since he was young. At age five he started to take Piano lessons from his teacher Maria Markovna Palchikova and soon became better than her. As a pre-teenager, he attended school at St.

Petersberg. His mother died in 1854 due to cholera. Peter again took piano lessons, this time with Rudolf Kundinger. In his youth, he continued to study law, attending the School of Jurisprudence although he found it quite boring and stopped. Tchaikovsky became rebellious to his family when he quit his job as a clerk for the Ministry of Justice, and began to study music at St. Petersberg Conservatory. Among his hobbies at the time were going to the Italian Operas (which were very popular in Russia at the time) and listening to Mozart.

Due to his lack of education though, at age 21, he could not tell how many symphonies Beethoven had composed.

Tchaikovsky was first tutored by Zaremba, who taught him harmony and theory, although at the time Peter did not know if he wanted to be a musician or not. Anton Rubinstein was his next teacher, who taught him composition. There he composed the overture to "The Storm"� and Overture in F (which he also conducted). In 1866 he moved to Moscow accepting a teaching job in a new conservatory along with Nicholas Rubinstein, Anton's brother. There he composed his first symphony, "Winter Dreams"�(in G Minor). This symphony was significant because it was composed at night where he was having insomnia, along with headaches and hallucinations. This is why he was said to have never composed at night ever again.

In 1874, Tchaikovsky composed the concerto in B flat Minor, which he was going to dedicate to his teacher Nicholas, but Nicholas criticized his work. He later composes symphony number 4 in F Minor. Tchaikovsky was married to Anotonina Ivanovna Milyukov, but they later separated. Peter Tchaikovsky moved to a country house of at Maidanovo, and continued his Manfred, with help from Balakirev. At age 35, he produced what might me his most famous opera, Swan Lake in 1875.

In 1888, Tchaikovsky made a highly successful international concert tour as conductor, meeting at Leipzig Brahms, Grieg and others, at Prague Dvorak, at Paris Gounod, Massenet, and Paderewski. Finishes his Fifth Symphony, in E Minor. Three years later, he Visits America, and conducts his own compositions at the ceremonies opening Carnegie Hall, New York. In 1890, he had the production of the opera Sleeping Beauty. In 1892, he has the first performance of the Nutcracker Suite.

In the last years of his life, Peter returned to his country house at Klin in January of 1893, and begins his Symphony No.6, the "Pathetic." He later went to England in June to receive an honorary degree from Cambridge University, together with other famous composers like Boito, Bruch, Saint-Saens and Grieg. The Sixth Symphony performed under his direction at the St.

Petersburg on Oct. 28, without marked success. In November 6, 1893 Tchaikovsky died. Reasons for his death are controversial. Some say that he developed cholera and dies in St.Petersburg others say that he committed suicide by taking poison to escape accusations of homosexuality.

Operas Names Dates Composed The Voyevode 1867-68 Undine 1869 The Oprichnik 1870-72 Vakula the Smith 1874, 1875 Eugenen Onegin 1877-78 The Maid of Orleans 1878-79, 1882 Mazeppa 1881-83 Tcherevichky Oxana's Caprices 1885 Queen of Spades 1890 Iolanthe 1891 Ballets Names Dates Composed Swan Lake 1875-76 The Sleeping Beauty 1875-76 The Nutcracker 1891-92 Dmitri the Pretender introduction to Act 1 1870 Snow Maiden 1873 domovoy scene in The Voyevode 1886 Hamlet 1891